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Planned Parenthood denounces plan to defund Planned Parenthood

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Planned Parenthood supporters called on Gov. Jay Nixon to veto HB 2011 because of a provision that would defund the embattled health care organization.

Dressed in their “Shame on Schaefer” shirts, advocates of the organization called on Nixon to combat Sen. Kurt Schaefer’s effort to dump $8 million of federal funding in order to give Missouri the ability to revoke under just $1 million in state funding that would go towards Planned Parenthood.

M’Evie Mead, the director of policy and organizing for Planned Parenthood of Missouri, called the budget bill “reckless and discriminatory,” as well as being fiscally irresponsible.

“Part of today’s conversation is about priorities,” Mead said. “The budget is demonstrating the wrong priorities by rejecting $8 million that could be used to fund other priorities.”

House Democrats also voiced their displeasure for the decision to defund Planned Parenthood. Rep. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, said the move was one in a long line by Republicans in an effort to stifle access to health care.

“While the majority of Missourians want to expand access to health care with things like Medicaid expansion, it’s disappointing that the Missouri legislature is reducing access to family planning and going in the opposite direction,” he said at the event. “We’ve got a lot of fiscal needs in this state… and instead we’re discriminating against Planned Parenthood.”

Coincidentally, Webber is also running for the seat Schaefer will vacate when he term limits out in November.

Rep. Tracy McCreery, D-St. Louis, believes the bill will simply waste money.

“Every day we pass bills through the Senate and the House that waste tens if not hundreds or millions of dollars in giveaways, and we are turning away money that can be used to make people healthier and live better lives and be more productive Missourians.”

Nixon has only passed a handful of the budget bills, namely the higher education bill. He has not yet stated his intentions on HB 2011.